As is known to those skilled in the art, there is a high level of concern in medical circles for improving cost effectiveness while maintaining acceptable levels of quality of medical services. One of the factors contributing to cost is the expense of providing and maintaining an acceptable level of cleanliness and sterilization. Techniques such as autoclaving for sterilizing medical equipment is time consuming; and for some medical instruments or parts thereof, it is not practicable. Accordingly, there has been a trend toward disposability of certain instruments. For others, where disposability is costly, it has become customary to make the instruments in parts which may be connected together for use. According to such proposals, parts such as operating handles are preserved and re-used, and other parts such as tips are discarded or are thoroughly sterilized after each use. Still others are sterilized and re-used a few number of times only. An example is that of the electrode disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/342,215 filed Nov. 18, 1994. Other examples of disconnectable parts for medical instruments are those set forth in German Offenlegungsschrift 2,404,764.